Competing on Greek soil for the first time, top seed Novak Djokovic powered past world No. 89 Alejandro Tabilo 7-6(3), 6-1 at the Hellenic Championship, advancing to his 225th career quarterfinal, the sixth in a row at tour level on Tuesday.
“It feels really at home, playing in Athens,” commented the 24-time major champion after his maiden appearance on the indoor hard courts.
“A few months ago, when I came here with my family, I was very excited because I had always loved Greece. Serbians love Greece, for sure. Historically, culturally, and religiously, we have a lot of things connecting us.”
The Olympic gold medalist, who recently relocated to the country with his family, returned to action at the ATP 250 event, replacing the Belgrade Open on the ATP calendar.
The venue, staged at the multi-purpose Telekom Center Athens, is the first at the tour level to be hosted in the country in over 30 years.
Third Time’s a Charm
The saying “third time’s a charm” suited the Djokovic-Tabilo rivalry to perfection on Tuesday, as the Serbian achieved his first career victory over the spirited Chilean player in three meetings on tour.
Moreover, the 38-year-old avenged his lone loss this season against left-handers (5-1), a painful straight-set defeat that took place at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters second round early in April.
The win, though, did not come easily, but the Belgrade native was not in a hurry.
He took his time to find his groove in a tight first-set tiebreak decided by small margins in 68 minutes.
Despite missing break point opportunities on his own serve, Djokovic was nearly flawless behind his service, winning 91 percent of the points on his first delivery.
“I was more under tension before the match than in some other matches, and I really tried to draw the energy from the crowd,” he added.
Then, Djokovic turned the second into a one-sided affair, breaking twice on his way to seal it 6-1, wrapping up a one-hour, 40-minute entertaining encounter for the delight of the crowd cheering in the stands.
During the post-match press conference, he further assessed his performance, outlining: “The beginning of the second set was the most important moment. At the start of the second set, I was struggling physically, so I just tried to hold my serve and wait for chances on his.
“At 2-1, we changed balls, and I managed to break his serve without losing a point. He made all four of his first serves, but I changed the rhythm, pace, and tactics a bit. It worked really well. I defended excellently at that moment.”
“Overall, I finished the match very strong. My serve worked really well, and in general, I’m very pleased with how I performed in the crucial moments,” he remarked.
Next, he will meet sixth seed Nuno Borges, who rallied from a set down to earn a hard-fought victory over the inspired American qualifier Eliot Spizzirri 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and five minutes.
The Serbian and the Portuguese players have never played one another before, cementing a week of firsts in Greece.
The tournament serves as preparation for the former world number one, who will make his 17th Nitto ATP Finals appearance in Turin next week.